


Overflow

by mousapelli



Category: Kingdom Hearts
Genre: M/M, Post-Canon, Post-Kingdom Hearts III
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-12-25
Updated: 2019-12-25
Packaged: 2021-02-25 20:55:18
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 11,936
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21951808
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/mousapelli/pseuds/mousapelli
Summary: Unversed have been popping up wherever Sora and Riku go, and that can only mean one thing: Vanitas. Ventus has an unusual solution for what to do with Vanitas when they find him, one that will hopefully solve both his and Sora's problems.
Relationships: Riku/Sora (Kingdom Hearts), Sora & Ventus (Kingdom Hearts), Vanitas/Ventus (Kingdom Hearts)
Comments: 15
Kudos: 276





	Overflow

**Author's Note:**

  * For [dreamchapel](https://archiveofourown.org/users/dreamchapel/gifts).



> Written for the 2019 Kingdom Hearts Secret Santa exchange, for Dreameaterven. This turned out more serious and longer than I meant for it to turn out, so I hope you like it. Happy Holidays! 
> 
> Thanks to Laughtertea and Serasarahhhh for putting up with me trying to write this the last month.

If there was something funnier than watching Lea try to do anything in the Dwarf Woodlands, Ventus sure didn't know what it was. 

"Yeah, laugh it up!" Lea snapped, rubbing his forehead where he'd banged it on the doorframe of the Dwarves' cottage coming out for roughly the hundredth time. "I probably have a concussion, that's sooo hilarious!"

"You're such a baby," Kairi laughed, reaching up to flick Lea's forehead. " _Cure_." She'd gotten the timing down perfectly now so that the spell cast in the moment her finger hit Lea. 

"That's an abuse of that power," Lea said. Kairi strolled ahead, still laughing, leaving Lea to make a face at Ventus instead. "You're supposed to be the leader here! Are you gonna let her treat me like that?"

Ventus just chuckled. "I don't really _let_ either of you do anything. Come on, let's go pack up and head home. I'll buy you an ice cream for your hard work."

"You'll do what?" Lea demanded, falling into step beside Ventus as they headed back in the direction their Gummi ship was hidden in the forest. "You don't buy me ice cream, I buy you ice cream! I'm the big brother character! Ugh, no respect, I tell you."

He was smiling, though, Ventus saw out of the corner of his eye. Lea was really coming along as a keyblade wielder, and more importantly his self-confidence in himself a hero of light was much less fragile. They'd had a good day, cleaning out a nest of Heartless from the Dwarf Mine easily and their pockets full of rare synthesis gems as a reward, so Lea and Kairi both had good reason to look smug right now. 

Kairi was in the middle of running the ship's diagnostic report when Ventus's phone rang in his pocket. He pulled it out, mildly surprised to see Riku's name on the display as he thumbed the 'connect' button. 

"Hi, Riku!" Ventus said, hearing an echo of "HI, RIKU" from Kairi and Lea behind him. "What's up?"

"Ventus," Riku greeted with a nod. His face looked serious enough that Ventus didn't interrupt him to remind Riku to call him Ven just like everyone else. "Are you still on your mission with Kairi and Lea?" 

"We're just wrapping up," Ventus answered. "Do you need something?"

Riku nodded. "Something came up while Sora and I were off-world, and I'd like your opinion on it. We're at the Mysterious Tower. Would you mind coming here?"

"Is it serious?" Ventus asked, not liking the deep crease between Riku's eyebrows. 

"It's…urgent," Riku hedged. "Can Kairi and Lea finish without you?"

"Oh, sure, we're about to head home anyway. I'll let them take the ship home and come to you on my glider, ok? It'll be faster." Ventus hesitated. "Riku, is everything really ok?"

"There's not a parade of Nobodies on the Tower stairs or something," Riku said wryly. "But honestly? It's not great."

"Well, then this guy better get on his way!" Lea said loudly in Ventus's ear, making him jump as Lea's weight landed hard on his shoulder. "Yo, boss! You and the Sunshine Kid in trouble? Just say the word and we'll come save the day!"

"No, thank you," Riku said, extra flat, making Ventus snicker. "Just Ventus will do. And don't call me that."

"Aw, you love it," Lea said, straightening up and giving Ventus's hair a ruffle. "Guess you better get out of here and save those guys from whatever. Yo, Kai, are we about ready to go?"

"Stick a popsicle in it!" Kairi shouted back, and this time even Riku had to laugh. 

Hanging up the phone and waving goodbye to Lea and Kairi, Ventus headed back off the ship to summon his keyblade glider. Something about the phone call was still sitting badly in the pit of his stomach as he called his armor, but he felt a little better once it was snug against his skin, as much a mental comfort as a physical one. 

Halfway through the warp tunnel, letting his mind drift, Ventus realized what was bothering him: Sora hadn't appeared during the call. Ventus couldn't think of a single other phone call with Riku that Sora hadn't invaded after a minute or two, hanging over Riku's shoulder or butting up under his arm to say hi. Frowning, Ventus leaned his weight forward on his glider, urging it to speed up. 

The Mysterious Tower looked peaceful enough when Ventus landed, the lawn undisturbed, stars appearing faintly in the bruised-purple sky above. He hadn't asked Riku where to meet him in the Tower, Ventus realized as he pushed open the door and was faced with the bottom of the staircase. 

That meant climbing a million stairs, more if Yen Sid didn't want company. Riku said that it was a joke that the stairs increased depending on the visitor, but Ventus had never seen any proof that it wasn't true. Six flights of stairs later, Ventus resisted the urge to call his glider back and pulled out his phone instead. 

[I'm here] he messaged Riku. [where are you i've already done a billion stairs]

[Our room.] Riku sent back after a few seconds. [Off the landing with the door marked with two stars.]

"Where the heck is…" Ventus's complaints trailed off as he trudged up to the next landing and there, of course, was a door with two stars. Rolling his eyes at the Tower, Ventus called, "You aren't funny, you know!" 

Through the two-star door was a short hallway with two more doors, one with a familiar orange-pink-purple daisy pattern etched into the wood, the second with a pair of shooting stars. Ventus knocked on the shooting star door, and a minute later Riku pulled it open. 

"Hey," Ventus said, scrutinizing Riku's face. He looked tireder than he had on the phone's screen, eyes lined, but his expression softened with relief when he saw Ventus. 

"Thanks for coming." Riku stood back, holding the door open. "Come in."

Ventus looked curiously around at Sora and Riku's room as he came in the room. He hung out in Sora's room at the Land of Departure pretty often, but he'd never been in this room before. It was round, with a squishy rug and some beanbag chairs on the floor that made it seem cozy and welcoming. It was very Sora and Riku as well, books lined up neatly on the desk, but gear scattered on the floor either being polished or fixed, the colors bold yellows, blues, and other bright colors like everyone from Destiny Islands seemed to prefer. 

Sora himself was sitting up in bed, blankets wrapped around his shoulders, hair wild and eyes bleary as if he'd just woken up from an exhausted nap. He brightened up when he saw Ventus, at least. 

"Ven!" Sora's smile was tired but real. "How was training with Kairi and Lea? You guys make the funniest trio, you know?"

"It's pretty funny," Ventus admitted readily, accepting the desk chair Riku dragged over for him. "We were in the Dwarf Woodlands. Lea hits his head on _everything_." 

"Oh gosh!" Sora broke into snickers just thinking about it. Riku sat on the bed next to Sora, Sora shoving at his shoulder playfully. "Guess we can't ever take you there, tree trunk."

"You can absolutely keep all the dwarves for yourself, shrimp," Riku teased back, rolling his eyes. His expression turned serious. "Our mission didn't end so well, unfortunately."

"What happened?" Ventus asked curiously, pulling his legs up to sit cross-legged. 

"Lately…well, we hadn't told anyone, but we'd seen a few Unversed in different places," Riku explained, making a chill run up Ventus's spine. Heartless were everywhere, even Nobodies not especially unusual, but there was only one time that Unversed showed up. 

Unversed meant Vanitas. 

"Where?" Ventus asked, leaning forward. 

"We saw one in Monstropolis first a few weeks ago," Riku said. 

"A few weeks ago? You didn't tell anyone?" Ventus demanded. Sora dropped his gaze, but Riku met Ventus's eyes without flinching. 

"Monstropolis was where Sora fought Unversed last, so it seemed reasonable just one might be left over from Vanitas passing through there earlier," Riku explained. "It wasn't even strong, just a normal-sized Flood."

"We didn't want to worry everyone," Sora said softly, eyes still down. Riku reached over to rub his back in soothing circles. 

"You should have told me," Ventus said. Vanitas was his responsibility, if he was still out there, somewhere, and it wasn't like he would have just vanished so easily. A flicker of anger rose in Ventus's chest that they hadn't told him, but like all negative emotions, it faded after a few seconds, unable to get a foothold. 

"Sorry," Sora said, even more softly. 

"It's all right," Ventus gave in right away, hating that look on Sora's face. 

"We investigated a few other worlds," Riku went back to explaining. "After a week, we saw another Flood in Agrabah, and then two more in Corona. They looked…different."

"What do you mean?" Ventus asked, frowning. "There's lots of kind of Unversed."

"No, they were still Floods. But some were blue, and rounder. One was red." Riku shook his head. "We've seen a few other colors now, a few other shapes. I just don't know what to make of it. We should have told someone by then, but we still thought they were leftovers from Vanitas passing through worlds earlier, especially since they all seemed weak and confused. Then today…"

Riku paused, looking at Sora as if Sora was meant to continue the story. Sora remained silent, mouth pinched, looking down at where his hands were fisted in the blankets in his lap. 

"When we landed at the Tower, we found one out on the lawn," Riku continued. "It must have snuck onto the Gummi Ship, is the only explanation I can think of. But that means that it must have come through the barrier wards with us."

"Here?" Ventus sat up straighter, now thoroughly alarmed. The Mysterious Tower was more deeply warded than Disney Castle and probably more well-hidden than the Land of Departure, doubly so since Yen Sid had banished all the Nobodies from the Tower that Pete had brought. Theoretically nothing except for keyblade wielders and Gummi ships should be able to even sense the Tower's pocket of the universe, much less get into it. 

"It gave us quite a scare," Riku said, going from rubbing Sora's back to wrapping an arm around his shoulders, pulling him closer. "We were already pretty tired from our mission, and it knocked Sora down before I even realized it was there. It was a close call."

"I'm fine," Sora said, scowling. Riku sighed, ruffling his hair. 

"I'm not," Riku said tersely. "If Unversed can appear here…what does that mean? Ventus, do you have any ideas?"

"I…" Ventus shook his head. "Unversed only appear where _he_ is, or where he's been." It was hard to say Vanitas's name out loud, even though Ventus thought about him all the time. "But he can't be here, right? You would know, and Master Yen Sid definitely would. It doesn't make any sense."

"I walked the length of the Tower twice before I called you," Riku said. "I didn't see or smell anything strange at all, certainly no sign of him."

"His name is Vanitas!" Sora snapped suddenly. "Just say it!"

"Sora?" Riku asked, concern on his face doubling. 

"Sorry." Sora hunched in on himself as if trying to take up less space. "It's dumb the way you all dance around it without saying. Never mind." 

Ventus looked back and forth between Riku and Sora critically, trying to figure out why it seemed like what they were telling him didn't line up the whole way. Sora looked worn out and unhappy, sure, but not anxious like Riku, not perplexed. Sora knew more than he was saying, Ventus was pretty sure, and Riku's agitation was probably due to sensing that across their heart link, even if he hadn't realized it consciously yet. 

Sometimes Ventus thought it was a little funny how Riku and Sora had the strongest heart link but understood it the least well. Maybe it made sense, though, since Ventus had been trained for years on how to use his D-links purposely, while Sora and Riku had stumbled into it without any training much more recently. 

"We're both pretty worn out, as you can see," Riku told Ventus apologetically, mistaking his close scrutiny for irritation. "Sora passed out on the lawn and slept until just before you got here. I'm not feeling much better myself…sorry, that's me," Riku said at the familiar chime of a Gummi phone message. He pulled his phone out to check the screen. "The King's here, to meet with Master Yen Sid. I should…"

"Just go," Sora said, voice dull. "I'm too tired for a whole meeting, call me if they decide something."

Riku opened his mouth to argue, and Ventus interrupted to stop the fight they were clearly teetering on the edge of. 

"I'll stay with him!" Ventus volunteered brightly. "You should go tell them what you know, since this sounds pretty serious. If you need us, you can always call."

Riku struggled for a second, then his shoulders slumped. "All right. Thank you." He smoothed Sora's bedhead back to kiss his forehead. "Sleep if you can. I'll go find us something to eat when I'm done."

"Yeah." Sora said, expression melting from irritation down to exhaustion. 

Silence settled heavily as Riku got up and left, the door clicking shut softly behind him. Sora was still looking down, looking like a tired, miserable mess, but even physical exhaustion didn't explain the way he wouldn't meet Ventus's eyes, the way his hands were clutching restlessly in the folds of his blankets. 

"Hey," Ventus said, reaching across to pat Sora's knee. "Can I sit with you?"

"Yeah," Sora agreed, slumping back against his pillows. He held up one arm to offer the space next to him under the blankets. Ventus kicked off his shoes and crawled in, making himself comfortable against Sora's side. 

Maybe it was strange that the two of them had no personal space boundaries between them, but after having his heart nested inside Sora's for a decade, letting Sora cuddle against his side felt comfortable and familiar. Slinging an arm across Sora's waist, Ventus leaned into Sora just as heavily. Sora bumped their knees together and found a comfortable spot for his head against Ventus's shoulder. While he waited for Sora to relax against him, Ventus occupied himself looking at the softly glowing stars on Sora and Riku's ceiling, unfamiliar constellations spun across the room in dreamy green, blue, pink, and gold. He wondered if Sora and Riku had put them up on purpose, or if they'd just appeared by magic along with the rest of the room. 

"Are you ready to tell me yet?" Ventus asked when Sora's breath had finally gone deep and even. 

"Tell you what?" Sora asked. 

"Whatever it is that you aren't telling Riku." 

Sora's fingers twisted in Ventus's T-shirt; Ventus waited him out patiently, not in a rush. 

"It's me," Sora finally said, so quietly Ventus could barely hear him. "The Floods. It's me."

Ventus took one slow breath in, held it, and let it out again. "What do you mean?"

"I'll show you." Sora sat up, and Ventus immediately missed the comfort of his warmth. Sora shot one look down at Ventus, unreadable, warning, "Don't scream," before closing his eyes. 

Sora's face scrunched up, like when he was trying not to cry, and then his chest hitched like he definitely was going to. Ventus lifted his hand to reach for him right as the first tear rolled down Sora's cheek, and that was when the Unversed appeared on the end of the bed. 

To say it appeared was a bit wrong, since Ventus hadn't seen it happen, exactly. It didn't peel itself off from Sora and it didn't crawl out from behind the bed or slip through a portal. One second it wasn't there, and the next second it was there, as if it had been the whole time. Frozen in shock except for his heart pounding, Ventus saw what Riku had meant about the strange color and shape of the Flood. This one was rounder, not all sharp angles, its color a mournful steel blue, if colors could have emotions. This one did. 

"I didn't know at first," Sora said, voice thick. Tears were rolling down his cheeks, slow, one at a time, Sora making no move to wipe them away. "Not until Corona. I got hit from behind, hard, and it surprised and scared me. That was the first time I saw one appear in front of me, and then I realized the reason they're everywhere we go…" Sora's voice choked up too hard to get anymore words out. 

Feeling like he was moving through water and eyes still glued to the Flood, Ventus reached for Sora's hand and gripped it tight. The Flood was just sitting on the end of the bed, shivering and hunched, like a cat caught in a bad rain, watching Ventus with unnerving, red eyes. 

"It's…" Ventus had to clear his throat. "It's not attacking us."

"They don't, usually," Sora said, threading his fingers through Ventus's. He squeezed Ventus's hand so hard it hurt a little. "Until we do first. Until Riku does. It hurts when he…Ven, I'm really scared."

"Yeah. Yeah, I bet." Ventus pulled Sora back into a hug slowly, trying not to spook either Sora or the Flood. "We have to tell Riku." He was already fishing his phone out of his pocket with his free hand, texting a misspelled [get bk hre] without looking. 

"I know." Sora started crying harder, snuffling into Ventus's shoulder. "He's gonna be so _mad_." The Flood shuddered, puffing up a little, or maybe actually getting bigger, but still didn't attack. Its edges spiked up like a hedgehog on alert. 

"He'll forgive you right away," Ventus assured, dragging a hand through the mess of Sora's hair, comforting him on autopilot. "He's just worried because he loves you. And you're scared to show him how bad things are because you love him. I wish you two would pull it together." Sora probably didn't even hear him, too far into his well-deserved meltdown, insensible. "Shh, hey, it's ok. It's ok." 

Without thinking about what he was doing, Ventus reached a hand out towards the Flood, palm open. The Flood hissed, ears flattening. But Ventus kept on repeating that it was ok, ok to both it and Sora in the softest, most soothing voice he could manage. Eventually the Flood put one paw towards Ventus, then another. When it was close enough for Ventus to touch its head lightly, the Flood didn't feel prickly like Ventus has expected, anymore than Sora's wild bedhead did. 

Riku came back into the room to find Ventus with Sora limply slumped against him, eyes still red from crying, and the blue Flood sitting heavily in their laps. 

"Don't yell," Ventus warned quickly, as Riku was opening his mouth to do exactly that. "Just come here, calmly."

"Even if you say that," Riku muttered. He crossed the room in three steps, hands hovering over Sora just short of touching him. The Flood hissed at him. "Put that thing down."

"It's not hurting anything," Ventus said. 

"It's a _Flood_ ," Riku protested. Sora and Ventus both looked up at him reproachfully, and Riku's scowled back, exasperated. "Is one of you going to tell me what the hell is going on?" he demanded. 

Ventus nudged Sora's shoulder. "Come on." Sora opened his mouth, but his eyes welled up before he could say anything. He shook his head mutely. Ventus sighed and took over. "Sora's making them. I saw this one appear."

"He _what_?" Riku demanded, too loud; Sora cried harder and the Flood dug claws into Ventus's leg. Looking stunned, Riku sat on the bed and tugged Sora over protectively against his side. "Why didn't you tell me?"

"I'm sorry," Sora sniffled, wrapping arms around Riku's chest. "I didn't know how to tell you because I knew you'd be mad, and the more scared I got, the more they happened…what's _wrong_ with me?"

"Nothing, nothing's wrong with you," Riku said, too quickly. Ventus gave Riku a bland look. "I mean, yeah, something's wrong, but we'll figure it out, ok? I'm not mad, I promise."

"You're not?" Sora asked in a small voice. The Flood felt lighter suddenly, and when Ventus looked down, it seemed smaller under his hands.

"Just worried about you." Riku hugged Sora tighter. "And sorry for not noticing. We're a team, aren't we? We can fix anything together."

"Yeah." Sora's voice was stronger now. He sat up straighter, wiping away the last of his tears. He gave Riku a watery smile. "We're a team."

The Flood shivered and then disappeared from Ventus's lap with a soft _pop_ of released air pressure. Ventus looked up at Riku and Sora. "What now?"

"Master Yen Sid's office," Riku said grimly. Sora made a face, shoulders slumping back down. "Although I don't know how we're going to explain any of this."

The Mysterious Tower at least took mercy on them, Yen's Sid's door appearing at the top of the stairs as soon as they left Sora and Riku's little hallway. Riku marched up the stairs with squared shoulders, Sora's trudging steps only keeping up because his hand was still laced tightly through Riku's. Ventus trailed behind, opening and closing his hands as he thought about how the Flood had felt against them. He'd never touched one before, only hit them with his keyblade. He still felt a phantom fuzziness across his palms from it, like too much static buildup. 

They didn't have to explain anything in the end, because as soon as Sora set one foot in Yen Sid's room, a yellow, jagged-edged Flood appeared at his feet, screaming like an injured rabbit. The sound set Ventus's teeth on edge, piercing and eerie. 

"It is a wonder how you bring ever new problems into my Tower with each visit," Yen Sid said blandly, looking down with his arms crossed. The Flood was sitting on his desk now, contained by a Barrier spell; it was still shrieking, mouth wide open, although the Barrier was trapping the sound inside along with the Flood. 

"How can they be coming from Sora?" Riku asked, looking from Mickey to Yen Sid. Mickey shook his head, frowning deeply. "Mickey, you fought the Unversed back when you met Ventus and the others. Were they anything like this?"

"I've never seen anything like it," Mickey said. "Sorry, pals."

"I have two theories," Yen Sid said. "The original Unversed were the the pieces crumbling away from the edge of Vanitas's damaged heart, given life by his powerful negative emotions and pain. Sora's heart indeed was damaged seriously from his misuse of the Power the Waking, and his return from the Final World. Certainly his emotional state is not yet entirely stable. It is possible he could create Unversed the same way when he experiences certain emotions."

Both Riku and Sora looked suitably horrified, Sora pressing tighter against Riku's side, Riku's arm wrapping protectively around Sora's shoulders. 

"However, I find that to be unlikely," Yen Sid went on; an audible sigh of relief went around the room. "Whatever state Sora's heart is in, he has been back for some time now. His heart would have been mending during that time, even if slowly, and the Unversed have only recently appeared. On the other hand, this leaves only one other explanation."

"What?" Sora asked, frowning. 

Yen Sid crossed his arms, looking down at the Flood on his desk. "I believe Vanitas's heart, or what is left of it, must be contained within your own, just as you sheltered Ventus's heart, and the others." 

"Are you kidding?!" Sora demanded. Ventus felt a shock of surprise travel up his spine, making the hair on the back of his neck stand on end. 

"But Sora saw him in Monstropolis," Riku protested. "He fought him in the labyrin—no, that was the Vanitas pulled from the past, wasn't it?"

"Yes." Yen Sid nodded gravely. "I'm afraid—"

"Oh my god, if you start trying to explain time travel again, I'm going to _lose it_ ," Sora snapped. "If Vanitas was in there, Riku would have seen him! He saw Roxas, Xion, and Ventus! He talked to them!"

"I didn't exactly scour the place," Riku said uncomfortably.

Ventus felt like everyone's words were circling around him without making any sense. Vanitas, here, this close, all this time. It couldn't be true. Could it? Wouldn't he have known? Shouldn't he…what should he…

"It would have been easy for Vanitas to hide himself among your hidden feelings and fears," Yen Sid was saying. "His presence would explain both the Unversed, and the trouble balancing your emotions."

"Your rage form," Riku said, eyes wide in dawning realization. "It could be him, the way it looks like you but fights differently, moves differently—"

"Stop it!" Sora yanked himself out of Riku's grip, fists clenched. "I don't want to hear it!"

"Sora—"

"Ven, are you all right?" Mickey interrupted. His light touch to Ventus's arm snapped Ventus backed to reality. 

Everyone was looking at him, he realized, and his chest was tight, breathing too quickly. Ventus's lungs burned when he forced his next breath to come in slower, deeper. Even the Flood had stopped screaming, Ventus realized, watching him through the blur of the Barrier spell with its unblinking, red gaze. 

"I…" His voice stuck, and Ventus swallowed hard. "I need a minute. I'm going outside." Mickey made a move as if to follow, and Ventus shook his head. "Stay. I'll be fine."

With the door shut against his back, Ventus tried to think through his daze, but felt somewhat detached from the entire situation. He went down the stairs on autopilot, the repetitive circling only adding to his sense of unreality. His arrival on the ground floor was sudden enough that Ventus stumbled off the last step. Once he was outside, the fresh air helped a little. Ventus sat down on the front step and counted breaths in and out until his head cleared. 

Tilting his head back, Ventus looked up at the stars that always hung motionless above the tower and thought about calling Aqua and Terra to tell them what was going on. They'd come, if he told them Vanitas might be here, they'd come in a heartbeat to make sure he was all right, to protect him. The thought brought Ventus some comfort. But he still didn't call, because he remembered the look on Aqua's face when Yen Sid had explained that Sora's heart had healed Ventus's fractured heart enough for it to live on its own, without its other half. Aqua's expression had been hard, sharp with relief. 

Ventus hadn't felt relieved. He'd felt numb, which was how he always felt mostly. He'd gotten better at imitating the feelings that Aqua and Terra showed outwardly, happiness and sadness and anger and everything else, because it seemed to make everyone feel better when did. He did have emotions, but they always seemed like small, flickering things in his chest, fires that never caught fully. He felt angry when he thought of meeting Vanitas again, and afraid, but not afraid enough to stop thinking about it.

Eventually Sora appeared, slamming the front door behind him and throwing himself down on the steps, face like a stormcloud. Ventus suppressed a smile at how much it reminded him of Terra's occasional fits of teenage melodrama back when he was roughly Sora's age, just after Ventus had arrived at the Land of Departure. 

"Are you ok?" Ventus asked. 

"Just great," Sora grunted, clearly anything but. "I told them I needed some air. They're in there talking about me like I'm some kind of science experiment."

Ventus nodded. "Master Eraqus and Master Yen Sid used to do that to me too, at the beginning." His earliest memories were hazy but he remembered fragments with clarity, the sharpness of Master Yen Sid's voice echoing in the Great Hall, the stained glass painting the marble floor in bright colors. "To be fair, I couldn't talk or respond much, so they probably thought I wasn't listening." 

"I wish they'd just admit for once that they don't know everything," Sora said darkly. He drew his knees up to his chest and hugged them. "Before they said that having the light of your heart inside mine was why I could still be happy and hopeful even when things were terrible, and that how bad I've felt lately was my heart trying to get used to being on its own again. Now they're saying maybe the negative emotions are Vanitas's heart inside mine getting stronger?"

"Oh," Ventus said. "What do you think?"

"How should I know?" Sora demanded. "If all my good emotions were from you, and all my bad ones are from Vanitas, if they take him out, what'll be left? Will I even be a person? Is any part of my heart actually mine?"

"Don't ask me," Ventus said, stomach tightening in empathy. "I'm barely a person, either. I must have been someone totally different when I had my whole heart."

"Oh!" Sora's head snapped up, eyes apologetic. "Ven, I'm sorry! I forgot, of course you're a person, I didn't mean…oh dammit," Sora cursed as tears welled up in his eyes. 

"It's fine," Ventus reassured, sliding in closer so that their shoulders were pressed together. "Why would I be mad? It's true."

"I'm still sorry. Ugh, I wouldn't mind if if the angry crying was from Vanitas and they took that out with him," Sora muttered as he wiped at his eyes, breathing wetly. "It keeps happening at the worst times, it's like being a little kid again. I used to cry over everything, the dark, storms, falling down…" Sora paused, glassy eyes narrowed in thought. "Crap, that probably means it's mine."

"I think you'll still be you," Ventus said, wanting to wipe the depressed look off Sora's face. "The you that wanted to save my heart, that wanted to help even though you must have been too little to understand what you were doing. The you who would chase Riku anywhere and wanted to save your own Nobody. That wasn't me, and it sure wasn't Vanitas."

"I guess." Sora sniffled, scrubbing at the corner of his eye with the heel of his hand. "If I'm somebody different after, we'll still be friends, right?"

"Yeah," Ventus agreed. "And if we aren't, I'll meet that Sora and be his friend too."

"Shake on it," Sora said, holding up his pinky. Ventus hooked pinkies with Sora and shook on it. Their D-link lit briefly, sending a flutter of warmth through Ventus's chest, and Sora seemed satisfied with that as they dropped their hands. 

They sat on the steps for a long time. After a while Sora said that he and Riku had made up constellations here, since the stars looked different than any they knew, and taught Ventus a few of them. Ventus and Sora made up a few of their own after that, until Riku finally came out of the Tower's door and offered Sora a hand up. 

"Are you done talking about me like I'm not there?" Sora asked, eyeing Riku's hand without taking it. 

"I'm sorry we made you feel like that," Riku said. Sora sighed and let himself be pulled up reluctantly. "We think the best thing to do is for me to dive into your heart and see whether I can find Vanitas. Once we know for sure if his heart is in yours, then we'll decide what to do after that. What do you think?"

"I guess you'd better," Sora sighed, scrubbing at his face. He leaned into Riku's side, and Riku wrapped an arm around his shoulders, drawing him into a reassuring hug. "If you're doing it, that's fine."

"Who else knows your heart better, right?" Riku said lightly, clearly trying to tease Sora into a better mood. Sora just grunted into Riku's shoulder. Riku let the small smile slide off his face as he looked down at Ventus. "You should come inside, too. Mickey's worried about you, and he wants to call Aqua."

It wasn't the most fun phone call Ventus had ever made. He spent most of it reassuring both Aqua and Mickey that he was fine, he wasn't scared or upset and he didn't need protecting or be sent away, and feeling like neither one of them heard a thing he said. After a little bit, Ventus tuned out what Mickey and Aqua were saying to each other, his gaze roaming restlessly over the borrowed Tower room, which looked like some kind of study full of bookshelves and overstuffed chairs. The only thing he was really feeling at the moment was empathy for Sora having to tolerate this exact same thing from Riku and Yen Sid.

He hoped whatever Riku was trying was working. A strange flutter happened under his ribs whenever he thought about it, gone too quickly each time for Ventus to identify what the feeling was. 

"I'm coming," Aqua said, snapping Ventus out of his daze. 

"Aqua, I'm _fine_ ," Ventus insisted. "There's nothing you can do here anyway! Even the King is just standing around making this phone call with me."

"That's true, I guess," Mickey chuckled ruefully. "I'll let you know when something happens."

"All right," Aqua agreed, mouth set unhappily. "Your Majesty, can I have a minute alone with Ventus?"

"Sure thing," Mickey agreed, patting Ventus on the shoulder. "I'll be right outside."

"I don't like this," Aqua said flatly when the door was closed behind Mickey. "I should be there! I left you alone for so long, and now if something happens with—"

"I've told you a hundred times," Ventus said patiently, "I don't remember any of that, so you don't have anything to make up for. What you did kept me safe, like you promised. Are we going to ever stop talking about this?"

"Probably not," Aqua said, expression easing into a rueful smile. "I'm sorry, if it seems like I'm babying you."

"You are," Ventus answered bluntly. "I'm all right, Aqua. If it really is Vanitas, then it's my responsibility to be here, and no offense, but I doubt you'd be an impartial voice of logical thinking when it comes to him."

"Ouch." Aqua sighed. "All right. Keep in touch. Stay safe."

"Go give Kairi and Lea complicated magic homework, that always makes you feel better," Ventus suggested. Aqua snorted. "I'll call later, when we know something. Bye!"

"Good luck," Aqua replied. The call connection cut, reloading Ventus's home screen, and Ventus heaved a sigh of relief. Stretching, he walked to the door and pulled it open to find Mickey lurking there, looking over-innocent as if he'd been trying to eavesdrop. Ventus suppressed an eyeroll. 

"Any chance you remember where the kitchen is in this crazy place?" Ventus asked, making Mickey blink. "I wouldn't mind eating something, assuming there's half a chance we can find anything besides enchanted tea and cookies."

"Bet I still remember the trick to it," Mickey said, looking up and down the staircase for a moment before deciding on up. "Follow me!" 

"Lead the way," Ventus said, falling into step behind him. 

They managed a whole plateful of non-magic sandwiches, after shooing overzealously helpful brooms out of the way, just in time for Riku to message that they should come back up to Yen Sid's office. When they came into the office, Riku and Sora were sitting on the floor, Sora's eyes still heavy with sleep and sleep-creases across his cheek, Riku bleary-eyed. They both perked up when they noticed the sandwiches. 

"Ven, you're my _hero_ ," Sora said, making grabby hands until Ventus sat down next to him with the tray. 

"Hey," Riku protested, pushing at Sora's shoulder. He let the fake pout drop when Sora shoved a sandwich into his hand. "Thanks, Ventus."

"It's _Ven_ ," Ventus and Sora corrected him at the same time. 

Yen Sid was sitting at his desk, fingers steepled, looking grim. 

"How'd it go?" Mickey asked, offering Yen Sid a sandwich. Yen Sid held up a hand to refuse, but snapped his fingers and a teacup and a teapot appeared; the teapot's cheerful bobbing as it filled the teacup looked somewhat ridiculous next to Yen Sid's grim face. 

"Ooh, me too!" Sora said, snapping his own fingers. Instead of a teacup, a mug appeared, electric pink, with gold cursive print reading 'May your heart be your guiding tea.' Sora shrugged and held it out to be filled. "Eh, whatever."

Yen Sid cleared his throat. "Riku? If you would tell the others what you told me."

"Mm." Riku swallowed his bite of sandwich. "Sora's heart station is still pretty damaged, which we already knew. It is healing, but slowly. Much slower than it should be." He glanced down at Sora, who was focused on his sandwich, chewing slowly. 

"And Vanitas?" Ventus asked. 

"I found him." Riku nodded. "Or rather, I found where he's hiding. He's there."

"How'd he even get in there?" Micky asked, perplexed. 

"We were mostly combined when I broke our hearts to destroy the χ-blade," Ventus said. "I don't remember anything after that, but however I ended up connecting back to Sora's heart, he must have still been connected to me." Ventus met Sora's eyes. "That's pretty amazing."

"I don't feel amazing," Sora complained. Riku reached over to squeeze his shoulder. 

"It seems likely that Sora's heart is attempting to heal Vanitas's in the same way as it healed Ventus's for ten years," Yen Sid spoke up, waving the teapot away when it tried to refill his cup. "Perhaps it has been doing so for all this time. Vanitas's heart being partially healed, and thus somewhat stronger, is likely the reason he is able to manifest as what you've been calling Rage Form, instinctively protecting Sora when Sora is unconscious or otherwise stretched past his limits. I understand other abilities of his have surfaced from time to time."

"You rode the keyblades at the Graveyard," Ventus said. Riku and Sora both shuddered. "Vanitas could do that."

"So if it's been going on all this time," Mickey said, frowning at Sora, "why are the Unversed only appearing now?"

"I believe Sora's heart is struggling to heal both its own injuries as well as Vanitas's," Yen Sid explained. "It simply lacks the energy to do both. Vanitas's heart may in fact be more repaired than Sora's in its current state, or close to it, and so Sora's heart cannot keep Vanitas suppressed as fully as he could before. Sora has endured much in the last two years, so his heart may be using Vanitas's ability to form Unversed as a way to release some of that pain and sadness."

"But I've been destroying them," Riku said guiltily. "Those freed emotions flow right back into Sora, and it starts the cycle over again."

"Yeah, that's how Unversed work." Ventus nodded. "So he can't stay in there, because Sora's heart needs to use its energy healing itself. Is that right?"

"Precisely," Yen Sid agreed. He sipped his tea as silence fell heavily over the group. 

"Gosh," Mickey said, looking from Yen Sid to Sora. "What'll we do? It wasn't exactly easy to free the others from Sora's heart. Even if we could, we don't want that guy roaming around!"

"Loosing Vanitas would indeed be unwise," Yen Sid agreed. 

The flutter was under Ventus's ribs again, lasting long enough this time for him to understand it. It was something in between anticipation and excitement. It was the feeling at the start of the rollercoaster in Disney Town, going up the first hill, being scared of the drop but wanting it to just happen already, knowing there's no way to stop it happening anyway. 

"Aren't those the only two options?" Riku demanded, a sharp edge in his voice. "We can't leave him in Sora's heart!" 

"I'll take him," Ventus spoke up. "We switch him from Sora's heart to mine."

"Ven, no!" Sora gasped, horrified. He set his mug down on the floor so hard that tea sloshed over the side. "You can't!"

Ventus looked up to Yen Sid. "Can we?"

"Theoretically." Yen Sid frowned, the lines on his face etching deeper than usual. "The requirements were a vessel for the heart to return to, and someone with memories strong enough to spark a connection."

"I'm both," Ventus concluded. "With Xehanort gone, I'm the only connection. It has to be me."

"Nobody has to do anything!" Sora protested. "So my heart takes longer to heal, who cares? I've been hauling this guy around for this long already, I'm fine!"

"No, you aren't." Ventus grabbed Sora's hand to stop his flailing hand gestures, squeezing it tight. "You kept me safe all that time. You healed my heart twice. You've done enough. It's my turn to take care of you."

"But…" Sora's voice choked off as tears welled up in his eyes. Sora swiped at them angrily. " _Dammit_."

"Wait, isn't combining their hearts what made the χ-blade in the first place?" Mickey asked. "We can't let him do that, right?"

"Not precisely," Yen Sid corrected. "It was the combat of their two hearts. Regardless, now that the χ-blade has been summoned by other means, it seems a moot point. Moreover, Ventus's heart has healed enough to function normally, no longer merely a broken half of pure light. It's possible, even likely, that he can never recombine fully with Vanitas, even should he want to."

"But he's still a part of me. If Sora could hold him inside his heart without them merging, then so can I." Ventus straightened up. "Tell me how."

"Vanitas cannot be forced out. You will have to dive into the depths of Sora's heart," Yen Sid explained. "There is a danger you could become lost and be locked away inside Sora's heart again. However, I believe that because both of you bear an unusual connection to Sora's heart, Riku may be able to dive with you as a guide to show you where he thinks Vanitas is hiding himself. If you find Vanitas, you will have to convince him to come with you willingly."

Ventus chewed his lip, thinking. "If he won't come, there's nothing else we can do?"

"Could just use the Kingdom Key to unlock my heart again," Sora joked blackly. "But Riku'd kill me if I made another Roxas."

"Two?!" Riku said in an overblown imitation of Lea. He punched Sora hard in the shoulder. "Don't even joke about it." 

"I can think of no other recourse," Yen Sid answered, nodding. "I recommend a night's rest before you try. As cavalier as Master Riku likes to act about diving into danger, even his heart has limits."

"Thanks for the vote of confidence," Riku said blandly. "I think I need a drink, too." He snapped his fingers and nothing happened. Snickering, Sora snapped again and this time produced a sky blue mug reading 'That's the Tea' and handed it over. When the teapot bobbled over, Riku asked it, "Got anything stronger?" 

The teapot whistled at him reprovingly and poured him a stream of tea scented heavily with chamomile. 

Riku rolled his eyes. "Everybody's a critic."

They tried to take Yen Sid's advice and go to bed early, but it was a lost cause. Ventus tossed and turned in his borrowed Tower room, unable to quiet his mind enough to sleep. It was a relief when his phone buzzed with a message from Sora asking if he was still awake. 

[Yes.] Ventus sent back. [Can't sleep.]

[us either] Sora responded after a second. [come over, lets just get it over with] 

Ventus was already sliding out of bed when Sora added the cryptic [bring ur pillow]

Sora and Riku were both sitting up in bed when Ventus pushed their door open, talking quietly. Ventus smiled when he noticed Sora's boxers were covered in Moogles, but he supposed he couldn't make too much fun; the pajamas that the Tower had produced for him were covered in a shooting star pattern a 5-year-old would wear. 

"Hey, Ven." Sora offered a tired smile, patting the space beside him on the bed. He was squashing what looked like the only pillow in his lap. 

"I really did need my own pillow," Ventus said as he climbed up, Sora and Riku shifting over to make more space. It was a tight fit but Ventus didn't take up much space once he had his legs folded underneath him. 

"Yeah, we started with more," Sora said sheepishly. "But several met untimely pillow fight accidents. Haven't figured out how to conjure up some more."

"Have you tried snapping?" Riku asked, making Sora chuckle. Turning to Ventus, he said, "Hold out your hand."

"Why?" Ventus watched curiously as Riku took Ventus's hand with his own, lacing their fingers together. Riku picked up a strip of black fabric and looped it around their joined hands a few times. "What's that for?"

"So we can't get separated once we're in Sora's heart," Riku explained. " _Bind_." The fabric snapped tight around their hands, ends sealed together. It held firm even when Ventus twisted his wrist. 

"Is that gonna work?" Ventus asked as Sora poked at the fabric. 

"Sure," Riku said, too quickly. Ventus thought about Yen Sid calling him cavalier. "You know, if we think it will. Ready?"

"I guess so," Ventus answered. Sora nodded, dropping his squashed pillow back against the headboard. 

"Be careful," Sora told Riku seriously as he leaned in for a tight hug. "You know what it's like in there, it's—"

"Yeah, I know." Riku kissed Sora's forehead, murmuring, " _Sleep._."

The spell took hold of Sora immediately, turning him limp in Riku's arms. His face was peaceful when Riku laid him back against his pillow, and Ventus hadn't realized how tense Sora's expression had been recently until he saw it relaxed. 

"Take a deep breath," Riku said, laying his and Ventus's joined hands over Sora's heart. Holding up his other hand, Riku called his keyblade. A pink light appeared over their hands, spreading up their arms. "Here we go!"

Heart-diving was strange, but exhilarating. Ventus at no point could gather his bearings during the freefall, glad of Riku's hand bound tight to his and pulling him this way and that. Brightly-lit objects in strange shapes and colors flashed by them; some Riku avoided as if obstacles, and others Riku dragged Ventus through. The ones they touched made Ventus's whole chest buzz with energy as if he was lit up just as colorfully, just for a second. 

Then everything went black. 

Ventus came to lying on the ground, cheek pressed against something cold. He flexed his fingers, relief washing cold through his chest when he felt Riku's hand still tethered to his. 

"Where are we?" Ventus asked, sitting up. He saw for himself before Riku could answer: it was Sora's heart station, glowing blues and purples, the center the turquoise of Destiny Islands' ocean. 

What really took his breath away, though, was how damaged Sora's heart station was. Nearly all the stained glass sections were cracked, some fractured through the center and others spiderwebbed the whole way across. Other sections were missing their glass entirely, revealing the yawning blackness below. Ventus could see a few places nearby that looked like they were mending, but it was nothing compared to how much had yet to be done. Climbing gingerly to his feet, Ventus couldn't help but worry that the heart station wouldn't even bear his and Riku's weight, that if they took one step too hard they'd crash right through the surface of it in a shatter of colored shards. 

"I didn't know it was this bad," Ventus said, voice hushed. Riku nodded, expression unreadable as he looked around himself. Looking towards the outer edge of the station, Ventus noticed an odd golden glow around the rim of it; threads of gold almost too thin to see trailed upwards. Ventus tilted his head back and squinted, barely making out another circle lit in lavenders and purples. "What is that?"

"My heart station," Riku answered. 

"It's so close…" Ventus realized the gold threads weren't just around the edges; all the leaded outlines between the glass panes glimmered faintly with gold, barely visible. "You're helping to hold his heart together."

"Yes." Riku knelt and put his free hand flat against one of the small sections of missing glass. He closed his eyes, face tense with effort, and the same golden glow spread out under his palm. When he lifted his hand, glass had filled in the empty space. 

But there were so, so many more damaged pieces in all directions. Ventus squeezed Riku's hand, wishing he could think of something to say. 

Riku shook his head. "Let's just go." Summoning his keyblade, Riku pointed at the center of Sora's heart station and to Ventus's surprise a keyhole appeared, and then a hexagonal portal of swirling blue and orange. Riku stepped through without giving Ventus a chance to ask any questions, tugging him along by their joined hands. 

In the blink of an eye, Ventus found himself standing on a wooden dock, the ocean in front of him, everything bathed in the deep gold of late sunset. Looking to his left, Ventus recognized the bent paopu tree, and the beach he'd visited with the others on Destiny Islands. Everything was larger than he remembered in reality, the trees taller and the beach longer, as if the image of this place held in Sora's heart was from when he was much younger and smaller. 

"Can you remember being here?" Riku asked. "In Sora's heart, I mean."

"Not exactly, but it feels familiar." Ventus looked from the beach to Riku. "I met you here, didn't I?"

"You asked me what I cared about most of all." Riku looked away, a smile flickering across his face, gone just as quickly. He turned, Ventus forced to turn with him because of their bound hands. "Come on. There's only one place Vanitas can be here."

With the sun setting at their backs, the small cave next to the waterfall was pitch black inside, the entrance yawning as if to swallow them. 

"It's the secret place. When we were little, Sora thought there was a monster in here," Riku explained. "When the wind blows through it, the whole cave moans."

As soon as Riku fell silent, Ventus heard the noise. It was faint at first, a murmuring that rose until it was a wail, eerie, mournful. It wasn't the wind, it was the noise of a hurt, desperate thing. When the pitch of it fell, it left Ventus's teeth clenched. 

"It's him," Ventus said. Riku nodded. Ventus strained to see into the blackness. "Light?"

"There's a hole in the ceiling once you get inside," Riku explained. 

Ventus nodded. Feeling like he understood exactly why Sora had been scared of this place as a kid, Ventus took a deep breath and started into the cave. He put his free hand out in front of him so that he wouldn't smack into anything, his other hand clutching Riku's hand tightly. There was light not too far in front of them, as Riku had said, dim and only coming down into the center of the cavern, the edges filled with shadow. 

As Ventus's eyes adjusted, he noticed drawings scratched on the cave walls. They were done crudely, but gradually Ventus recognized that some of the drawings were of him, the scratched shape of his keyblade recognizable. Trailing his hand along the wall as he walked further in, Ventus saw scenes and figures that he recognized, like Aqua and Terra's Mastery exam, a pirate ship, and Unversed carved in jagged lines. In the deepest part of the cave a glaring Master Xehanort was drawn up so high Ventus could barely reach it, glaring down with bared teeth. Below him were two figures with cartoonish Xs over their eyes, and a shape that might have been the χ-blade before it was scribbled out over and over, the scratches cut deep into the rock. 

"It's us," Ventus murmured, sadness welling up in his chest as he touched fingertips to the drawings. 

"Do you see him?" Riku asked, interrupting Ventus's thoughts. Ventus opened his mouth to say no, but when he turned to look again his eyes caught on a dim corner of the cave. It was the shape of him Ventus recognized first, the slope of his helmet and the hunched set of his shoulders, even though there was no color to him, just a shadow slightly blacker than the other shadows. 

"Hey," Ventus said, taking one cautious step forward, then another. It was awkward with Riku dragging along behind him, but there was nothing Ventus could do about that. As he got closer, Vanitas's colors began to appear as if a very old movie slowly being colorized, muted. His armor faded with the rest of his camouflage, revealing his face. "It's me. Do you know me?"

Vanitas didn't answer, his yellow eyes unblinking and the only fully colorized part about him. He looked younger than Ventus ever remembered being, once Ventus was close enough to see the details, smaller, like in the few photographs Aqua had of when Ventus had started living with them. Vanitas's hair spikes were shorter, matted to his head, his T-shirt grubby, his knees scraped where he was curled in on himself protectively. Ventus sat down in front of him, an arm's-length away; behind him Riku was forced to do the same, the soft crunch of sand shifting as he settled into it. 

"Do you know where you are?" Ventus tried again. Vanitas bared his teeth. "You're in someone else's heart, in Sora's…it doesn't matter. You've been here a long time, but you can't stay here anymore. I'm here to take you with me." Ventus waited, but Vanitas's only response was his shallow, raspy breathing. "Can you understand what I'm saying?"

Ventus reached out, and only then did Vanitas move, shrinking back against the damp cave wall. 

"Go away," Vanitas said, barely a voice, more like the scrape of stone on stone. "You sent me away. You broke us. You didn't want me!"

"I know," Ventus said. The hollow place inside his chest ached suddenly, sharply, as if it were brand new again. "I'm sorry."

"You sent me away!" Vanitas howled, voice rising until it was the pained shriek of the wind they'd heard at the cave. Sand and grit whipped against Ventus's face, stinging his eyes. "Go away GO AWAY GO AWAY!"

"I can't," Ventus said, pleading. Tears were slipping from the corners of his eyes from the sand, from the ache in his chest; Ventus let them fall, afraid Vanitas would disappear if he raised his hand to wipe them away. "I'm sorry, I didn't understand before. I did send you away, but I'm back. You're meant to come with me. Please, you have to. If this place falls apart, you'll disappear with it."

"No." Vanitas curled himself up tighter, hiding his face down against his knees. His voice was just a voice now, raw from crying, a twelve-year-old Lost Boy hiding in a cave. "No no no no no."

"You have to," Ventus repeated. He reached out again, as slow as he was able. "I'm sorry. I'm so sorry. I'll try to fix it, if you come with me. I'm sorry I sent you away. I won't do it again, I promise."

When Ventus's hand touched the top of Vanitas's head, his shape contracted suddenly into a Flood, all sharp edges and glaring red eyes. Ventus didn't pull his hand back, even as Vanitas prickled under him. It felt like gripping a rose too tightly, the thorn points sinking into his palm, but Ventus ignored it as he pulled Vanitas towards him like dragging a scared cat from its hiding place. He was impossibly heavy when Ventus got Vanitas's weight into his lap, pinpricks of pain poking all along Ventus's arms and through his shirt as Ventus gathered him in close. Ventus ignored it, hugging Vanitas tighter, the emptiness inside his own chest burning with Vanitas's nearness. 

"Please," Ventus whispered. All at once Vanitas dissolved in his grip, like a popped soap bubble. Panic clawed at him for a split-second, before he realized that the weight of Vanitas was still heavy against his chest. _Inside_ his chest. 

"Ventus?" Riku asked, voice rising nervously. 

"I think…" Ventus drew in a breath, felt the way it stuck halfway down. "I got him. Pull us out."

None of the return trip was sensible to Ventus, a sickening blur of color and motion. He squeezed his eyes shut against it, and it still bled through his eyelids, a nauseating kaleidoscope. When everything stopped, Ventus peeled open his eyes cautiously and winced as the bright colors of Sora's blankets felt like too much against his eyes. 

"You ok?" Riku asked. Ventus nodded, swallowing hard. He watched impassively as Riku undid the fabric binding their hands together, fumbling at the sealed ends one-handed. When the fabric fell away, the lines of it were etched red into both their skin, rubbed raw as if they'd been pulling with all their might against it. "He was pulling on you, trying to keep you in that cave with him. A few times, I thought for sure I was going to lose you."

Ventus saw the fear still draining from Riku's eyes, the exhaustion left behind when it was gone. "Thank you." He looked down at their hands, covering Riku's with his own. " _Cure_." The lines faded slowly, until they were pink, then white, then gone. 

Between them, Sora stirred. He opened his eyes slowly, like his eyelids were incredibly heavy, and his first blink was so long it seemed like his eyes might just stay shut. His voice was rough when he asked, "Riku? Are you back?"

"Yeah." Riku helped Sora sit up, Sora scrubbing at his eyes and looking entirely bleary. 

He blinked at Ventus like he was struggling to put all his pieces back together. "Hi, Ven."

"Hi." Ventus offered Sora a tired smile. "How do you feel?"

"I feel…" Sora touched a hand to his chest, frowning. "Better? Calmer. But…kind of too empty. Lonely?" His lower lip wobbled, and Ventus reached out to hug him before he thought about what he was doing. Sora collapsed into the hug, clutching Ventus tightly. "Sorry."

"Shh, it's ok." Ventus closed his eyes and sighed in relief, glad they still fit together in a hug the same way. "I know that feeling. You'll be ok."

"Mm." Sora shifted. "Um, guys? What's with the Floods?"

"With the…" Ventus twisted to look over his shoulder and realized the floor of Sora's room was littered with Floods, more colors and shapes than Ventus thought Floods could ever come in. Some emotions he recognized, like the sad round Flood, or the sharp yellow anxiety one. Others Ventus couldn't begin to guess at. 

"Holding in more than you were telling anyone, huh?" Riku asked, eyes narrowed. Sora chuckled ruefully. "I'll—"

"I got it," Ventus said, not wanting to watch Riku lay into the Floods with his keyblade. 

He slid off the bed, to the floor, and put a hand out to the nearest Flood, a gray one curled up in a spiral that didn't move as Ventus came near, only watched him balefully. The Flood absorbed into Ventus's hand as soon as he laid his palm against it, and for a second Ventus was overtaken with exhaustion, bone-deep, making him want to do nothing but slump to the floor and give up. Then it passed, and Ventus shook his head to clear it. 

"Wow," Sora said. "Is it ok for you to do that? Are you ok?"

"Yeah." Ventus put a hand to his chest. There was a heaviness there, an ache that it was hard to breathe around, but somehow that was better than the hollow place that had been there before. "It hurts, but…"

"Hurt's important too, right?" Sora said. When Ventus looked up, Sora expression was sad but somehow satisfied. "Without the bad emotions, the good ones don't feel like much either."

"Mm. Yeah." Ventus reached for the next Flood, this one green and chattering. This one didn't disappear when Ventus touched it, but twisted around to sink claws into Ventus's hand. "Ouch! I think this one's yours."

"I'm not sure I want it back," Sora said dubiously, rubbing at his elbow. "Can't we just free them on the lawn? Master Yen Sid could use some pets around here."

"Get to work, slacker," Riku said, giving Sora a cheerful push off the side of the bed, sending him to the floor in a landslide of blankets. 

Chuckling, Ventus turned back to the sea of Floods in front of him. One was cowering against the side of the desk, a washed-out blue, shivering with fear. 

"Hey there, it's ok," Ventus soothed. "You'll feel a lot better when you're back where you belong."

*****

"Come on, Kairi!" Ventus said, grinning as Kairi climbed back to her feet, arms and knees streaked with dust. "You can do better than that."

"Get him, princess!" Lea hollered cheerfully from the steps. "Make him eat dirt!" 

Kairi charged with a yell, her keyblade flashing, twisting to the side at the last second so that Ventus barely got his own up in time to block. Destiny's Embrace slid off Wayward Wind with a screech of metal, and Ventus jumped just in time to avoid Kairi's ankle sweep. 

"Good!" Ventus praised; Kairi's guard was getting better, her thinking quicker the more she practiced with Lea and his tall jerk tricks. "But not good enough!"

His Blitz attack was still quick enough to get through Kairi's guard, driving her back, and her counter was too slow, Ventus sidestepping it easily. When Kairi lowered her stance to charge, Ventus air-stepped for enough height to hop on his keyblade, riding Wayward Wind like a skateboard trick over Kairi's shoulder and slamming down into the ground on her other side. The Stun shockwave tripped her into the dirt, sending Destiny's Embrace skidding out of her hand. By the time Kairi rolled over, Ventus was over her, his keyblade's tip at her throat. 

"I win again," Ventus said cheerfully. 

"Get bent," Kairi grumbled, pushing Ventus's keyblade away. She struggled to her feet, slapping dust off her training clothes. "Again."

"Nope! That's three, you know the rules." Ventus shook his head. Kairi gave an aggravated groan. "Lea, you're up."

"Sorry, but I'm here to steal them!" Aqua called as she came down the steps into the sparring area. Kairi and Lea both cheered at the interruption, but it melted into more groans when Aqua added, "For magic lessons."

"I never thought I'd miss meditation lessons with Riku," Lea complained. 

"Stop, you love magic," Aqua laughed, roughing up Lea's hair spikes as he passed by. Lea batted her hand away with a grumble and reached up to fix the headband holding his spikes back. Aqua turned back to Ventus. "Want to come?"

"Nah," Ventus said, dismissing his keyblade and putting his hands behind his head. "I think I'll go meditate a bit." He saw the flicker of Aqua's expression like she wanted to argue, before she smoothed it back out. 

"All right. Don't be too long or I'm sending Terra to find you," she warned. Ventus nodded, then turned to go. "I saw that new move, by the way. One of his?"

Ventus shot Aqua a grin over his shoulder. "Looks like it's mine now."

Ventus headed to his favorite spot, the one that looked out over the hills of the smaller floating islands at the edges of the Land of Departure, the stone of the lamppost sun-warm against his back. 

'Meditation' was his euphemism for diving into his own heart, and he'd gotten pretty good at it if he did say so himself. Practice made perfect, after all. He closed his eyes, steadying his breath, and the breeze of the Land of Departure turned into the rushing wind of a Drop almost immediately. Landing lightly on his heart station, Ventus took a moment to look around at it, examining its condition. 

Along one side, just at the edge, some red was creeping into the bright green of the border. Ventus had noticed it in one section last time, and now it had spread to three. The glass was still whole, though, solid when Ventus bent to tap it. Satisfied, Ventus turned back to the center, keyhole outlining as soon as he called for it. 

The town square looked the same as ever when Ventus opened his eyes, the star mosaics under his sneakers edged with purple, the cheerful patter of the fountain. Everything was spun pink and gold in the light of sunset, and Ventus wondered if everyone's deepest heart was always at sunset, or if it was something he and Sora just happened to share. 

Shading his eyes, Ventus tilted his head back and scanned along the rooftops. He spotted Vanitas's familiar slouch on a rooftop a few streets over and set off. The yellow streets and purple houses had all looked alike to him at first, making it easy to get lost, but now he knew the way. 

Lately Vanitas was always on the same rooftop, up the stairs from the square, and then more stairs, to the three-story townhouses with the red and yellow flowers in the window boxes, the one with the three chimneys and two spires on top. Grabbing the lowest edge of the roof with a bit of glide, Ventus climbed from level to level until he could scramble onto the highest part. Vanitas was still sitting there, unmoving as if he hadn't heard any of Ventus's ruckus, and he didn't move when Ventus dropped heavily beside him with a sigh of relief. 

"Hi, Van," Ventus said. Vanitas didn't respond to the nickname; he'd argued at first, but Ventus had persisted using it until it became real. Ventus looked out over the town as he caught his breath, admiring as always how beautiful it was. All of it looked like something out of a storybook, the brickwork cream and pink, the bright purple of the roofs, the lush green of the trees. In front of them a strangely shaped clocktower rose, twice as tall as any other building but with the same purple spires on all its dozens of towers. Why on earth did it need so many, Ventus wondered every time. Why was it bigger on the top than it was on the bottom? The swaying of the gigantic pendulum was soundless, but hypnotic.

"Hi," Vanitas said, enormously late. Ventus turned his head to find Vanitas's gaze still fixed on the clock tower. Vanitas's clothes mirrored Ventus's as they always did these days, his shirt and pants black where Ventus's were white, white where Ventus's were black. Vanitas's feet were bare again the rough shingles of the roof, his hair spikes ruffling in the breeze. His hair was getting longer, Ventus had realized lately, the longest pieces beginning to flop over into his face or brush the tops of his shoulders. What that meant, Ventus had no idea. 

"We could go explore it, if you're so interested," Ventus suggested. Vanitas flicked a glance over to Ventus. "The clock tower, I mean. Do you want to?"

"I'm not going in there," Vanitas said, turning his face away again. "Too creepy."

"Is it? It's no different than everyplace else here," Ventus pointed out. He leaned forward a little to look this way and that, down the streets. "Such a big town with nobody living in, it's so strange. Where do you think everybody is?"

"Stop asking weird questions," Vanitas snapped, shoulders hunching. "Shut up."

"And what is this place anyway?" Ventus continued, used to ignoring Vanitas's sharp retorts. He always had so many questions when he was here, and even though there was no reason to believe Vanitas had any answers, Ventus let them spill out anyway. "Sora's deepest heartspace is Destiny Islands, and Roxas's is Twilight Town. Everyone else's is a place that's home. How can mine be someplace I don't even recognize?"

Realizing that Vanitas had been quiet for longer than usual, not even an insult, Ventus looked over. Where Vanitas had been sitting was a Flood, the original sharp purple sort, hunched small and shivering. Vanitas had spent days in Flood form when Ventus first re-homed him inside his own heart before Ventus's patient one-sided conversation coaxed him out. He was generally human-shaped when Ventus visited now, but still shrank to Flood form sometimes when he was overwhelmed or angry or wanted to make a quick escape. 

He wasn't darting away this time, though. After watching Vanitas shivering for a few seconds, Ventus slid over closer, until Vanitas was pressed against the outside of his thigh. Ventus lifted a hand slowly to keep from startling him, and set it on Vanitas's back, not petting, just resting it there.

"I guess it must be a place I knew before," Ventus said eventually. Sitting here, looking over the city, Ventus felt a deep ache in his chest, although he had no memory attached to it, nor even the feeling that there should be a memory. He assumed the hurt was Vanitas's, often wondering if his lost memories had been locked inside Vanitas when they were split, or if they had simply vanished forever sometime before that. "This place is so beautiful. Why does it make you so sad?"

He didn't get an answer, not that he had expected one. Ventus sat quietly after that, swinging his feet gently against the roof. After a little while, Vanitas grew back to his normal human size, still pressed tight to Ventus's side. 

"Daybreak Town," he grunted eventually. Ventus looked at him, puzzled. "This place."

"Oh. That's its name? How do you know that?" Ventus asked. Vanitas didn't answer, but his hand slid into Ventus's, squeezing tight enough that his chewed-off nails dug into the back of Ventus's hand. "Huh. So it's a sunrise, not a sunset."

"Same damn thing," Vanitas grumbled, chin sharp where it dug into Ventus's shoulder. They were all sharp angles together, elbows digging into ribs, knees and ankles banging into each other. Ventus couldn't say he minded it, aware of every place they pressed together. 

Out in the real world, Ventus opened his eyes to find Terra leaning over him. 

"You've been gone a while," Terra said. "Aqua sent me to check on you. Everything all right?"

"Yeah." Ventus yawned, rubbing at his face. "Hey, Terra. Have you ever heard of a place called Daybreak Town?"

"Can't say I have," Terra answered as he offered Ventus a hand up. "We could check the library. Why? What's in Daybreak Town?"

"No idea," Ventus said. Something bumped into his ankle, and when he looked down, a puffy orange Flood was stretching out from behind his shoe to sniff one of the flowers in the grass. "But a little Flood told me it's worth looking into."

**Author's Note:**

> 1\. I think the idea of the different colored Floods might have been Maggie's? We talk about it a lot. 
> 
> 2\. I 100% think Sora's rage form is Vanitas inside his heart. I'll be really surprised if we don't eventually get that reveal. Meanwhile Ventus has a form change finisher where he rides his keyblade like a skateboard/surfboard, while Vanitas rides his keyblade as well like I mentioned in here. 
> 
> 3\. Sora and Riku's dream eater link is sort of different than the BBS D-link system, but not that different, so I thought Ventus would think of it that way. Ventus forms D-links pretty freely in that game, so I'm sure he and Sora would have one. 
> 
> 4\. There's definitely a theory that goes around that Vanitas has the memories from Ventus's KHUX days, because they end in the keyblade war so it'd be a really painful memory. It's equally possible they're lost from being sent out as a dandelion, since Lauriam and the girl Lea/Isa visit have definitely lost theirs.


End file.
